WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today announced the appointment of Wayne Hubbard to the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council, a group established in 2010 to advise the departments on wildlife conservation, habitat conservation and hunting. “It is truly a great honor to be appointed by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to be 1 of the 18 members of the Wildlife and Hunting Heritage Conservation Council. I’m looking forward to getting started,” Wayne Hubbard said.

“Over past few years, the Council’s recommendations on a range of issues, like management of the greater sage grouse and improving recreational access to public lands, have been indispensable to the Department of the Interior,” Secretary Jewell said. “These appointments will enable the Council to continue to advise the Department on topics critical to the health of our lands, wildlife, and to the people who enjoy them.”

“The members of this Council and the organizations they represent have been invaluable advisors and liaisons in our conservation initiatives, like the Regional Conservation Partnership Program and Conservation Reserve Program, over the past several years,” Secretary Vilsack said. “Thanks to many of their efforts, USDA has enrolled a record number of private working acres into what are the most targeted conservation efforts in our history, and the individuals we are appointing today possess the expertise needed to help us expand protection for the natural resources that are critical to America’s rural communities.”

Wayne Hubbard, known for his many talents and abilities, has been an entrepreneur for more than 25 years. His unwavering work ethic and skill sets have positioned him as one of the foremost personalities and experts in the world of outdoors. He is the Co-Founder of Urban American Productions, a television production company providing world class film and television quality content. His production company produces the award winning outdoor lifestyle TV show, Urban American Outdoors. Wayne’s earlier background is in finance and marketing. As an award winning producer, Wayne has dedicated himself to creating and building partnerships that educate and inspire people to become aware of the world around them with conservation and preservation as philosophical cornerstones.

In 1994, Wayne Hubbard helped to develop an environmental justice and ecology youth program. Always thinking about the next generation and what kind of world that we are going to leave them; Wayne Hubbard continued to work on environmental program making enhancements and partnered with Operation Brightside, a nonprofit organization to bring the educational program to the neighboring schools. This program included, recycling, property beautification, litter cleanup, waste management, and ecology awareness.

He worked with and inspires schools and groups across the country to get involved in local cleanup efforts in their neighborhoods. At the onset of the program school children were given over 7000 trash bags to take home to get things going. This small gesture ignited the kids into taking charge in cleaning up the environment. Word got around and other schools wanted to be part of their own cleanup programs. In fact they wanted to make it an ongoing mission. Along with this, Wayne Hubbard brought in Ecology and Safety awareness curriculum to the schools. The program’s impact includes 9,040 Students, 402 teachers, and 36 schools. Other programs along that were implemented to the schools was a bicycle safety and basic safety awareness.

In 1995, Wayne was quoted, “This program helps children of all ages learn a common sense approach in helping to preserve our environment through stories, activities and projects. They will learn how to recycle, use renewable resources and the importance of water, trees and soil.” This sentiment still holds true and unbroken today.

In 1997, Wayne worked on a project with the former President of the National Council of State Garden Clubs, Inc. She was specifically over birding. Wayne helped her design, publish and market a gourmet recipe book to feed birds entitled “Feed your Feather Friends, and Make Your Yard a Bird Sanctuary”. He negotiated a contract to get the book on QVC, which had a successful run and sold out the product and traveled the United States speaking on birding.

Through Wayne’s Urban American Outdoors TV show and his various conservation initiatives, safe environmental practices, and education, he has been giving a platform to tackle the issues of the outdoors and bring them to mainstream audiences. Wayne, along with life-long partner Candice Price in 1999 created The TV show which was the first outdoors TV show that represented not only traditional sportsmen and woman but also the emerging markets. There were many of his show that presented the cultural and historical aspects, food, eating what you harvest and other pertinent issues over the years.

In recent years Wayne, produced TV shows for The United States Forest Service which was filmed in Missoula, Montana and Idaho.
They wanted to share with the public what the US Forest Service is. “There are many who live close to the forests and already have a relationship with the US Forest Service, but there are millions of US citizens who know very little to nothing about their public lands. One of the goals was to help dispel some of the confusion that exists in many minds and to share the story of the US Forest Service.”

The best way to tell this story was by revealing some of the historic facts told by people who have deep passion for their jobs, blended with the beauty of the area to see the story unfold. The US Forest Service show # 2 depicted its Science and Research program. The show went into the Forestry Science Labs and covered research, fires, biology, invasive species, DNA and other important issues.

In 2012, Wayne was invited to Missoula, Montana to speak at The US Forest Service Black History Month program. This is a place that people would never equate to Black History, but this is further from the truth. At Ft. Missoula, Buffalo Soldiers were there in the 1890’s and also had the 25th Infantry US Army Bicycle Corps where they rode from Missoula, Montana 1900 miles to here in St. Louis, Missouri. Unbelievable fete which we covered and filmed for the upcoming Pt. 2 & Pt. 3 Buffalo Soldier TV show.

In 2010, President Obama created the America’s Great Outdoors Initiative to help reconnect Americans to our local and national parks, streams, rivers and waterways, forests and all our Public Lands. President Obama also created the 21st Century Conservation Service Corps to provide quality jobs, career pathways, and service opportunities for youth and veterans under his new initiative.

On March 18, 2014, Wayne was nominated and received an invitation to participate in the prestigious White House Champions of Change Ceremony: Engaging the Next Generation of Conservation Leaders. This event honors people and organizations from across the country who is working to get young people to connect to nature and outdoors.

The Council is an official advisory group established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act that helps promote and preserve America’s wildlife and hunting heritage for future generations. The Council provides advice on conservation endeavors that benefit wildlife resources and recreational hunting; as well as encourage partnership among the public, the sporting conservation organizations, the states, Native American tribes, and the federal government.

Several federal agencies play a key role in supporting and maintaining America’s outdoors heritage – the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, U.S. Forest Service, Natural Resource Conservation Service, and Farm Service Agency. The Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies also appoint organizational members to the Council.
For more information, visit: www.fws.gov/whhcc.